Pain Patch

[want2bme]

I am 35 mother of 5 married for 14 years and addicted to pain killers.  I have had this issue hard core for about 3-5 years.  It is hard to know when things got out of control but I have found myself not being able to function without them!  This pisses me off...enough to be one of my drives to starve this thing out.  I realize those words sound really good in a few minutes I could be an emotional wreck.  My oldest child is a teenager so I have to conceal this even though I am confident that he knows there is a problem.  Being young he doesnt understand the depth but that there is a drug addiction.( I suspect)   There is no way I feel comfortable going to a community support group due to this community being so small so I am thrilled to have found this and reading the success stories are awesome!  I am addicted to vicodin or Norco.  The more mgs the better.  I have been taking about 10 (10 325) daily for about 2 years.  My husband has a script for 90 a month and we have a convienent drug dealer "friend".   I pay a lot for each so this has had a huge impact on us finacially.  The price has gone up and there is NO way I can bring myself nor my family through that!     THis is ? day of no Norco but there has been oxycontin that I chopped into 8 pieces and took that as a pill when they ran out I took darvecet and now I have this tramedol patch.  I am scared to death to take this but I am having some wds and I need to function to take care of my kids.  I have NOOOO energy.  nothing.  I do not know how I got out of bed this morning but thought one foot in front of the other and I did it.  This is a 25 mg patch.  My husband thinks this will help me step down from this but I see it as I have to go throught this evetually so why not do this this way.  But I have to function for my kids.  I do not want to substitute this evil for another.  I have muscle relaxers for the rls and xanax for the anxiety.  I bought several of the vitamins for the Thomas reciepe.  Any suggestions will be appriciated on how I should do this and succeed.  I am an awful speller so I wish there is a spell check on here so I apologize for the scribbled words.

[want2bme]

Just finished the back yard!  ...We live on about 1/2 acre and I have a push mower...this really was a job.  It took me all day to do something that ussually takes the morning along with 4 or 5 norcos but I was determined to do this and it is done.  My kids and husband are very funny.  They make me laugh so hard.  I am blessed in so many ways.

[want2bme]

Back yard did not get cut.  Yet

[want2bme]

Thank You for the words of encouragment..I mistakenly said tramedol instead of fentynol..It is a pain patch for people who are tolorant to the regular pain pills.  I did not put one on and am proud to say that today is my first day of starting my goal!  I actually mowed the front yard and now the back yard is starring at me.  I have learned that if I keep busy I am better off...I think my legs jerking is actually funny..annoying but goofy.  This is about the third day of the rls but at night it is the most aggervating!  I took a muscle relaxer and a xanax last night and slept pretty good.    I do worry about the xanax because it makes me crabby but when it gets tough mentally I know I have an option.  Now on the plus side of spending so much time in the bathroom maybe I will losse a few pounds.  I took the vitamins this morning and will be eating some banannas today to help with the rls and frequent bathroom breaks.  I think like this ..if two weeks is the estimated time frame I will be here in two weeks and I will be sober!  THe tapering idea is great and I have tried this for the last year..I am not strong enough for that.  My husband is in this same boat along with me and has shared the same frustrations with this monkey we both have.  He is due for another script but has decided to bite the bullet and kick it.  THis is day one for him as well.  He was hoping to taper with the patches but said if I can do this without the crutch he can too.  We are both competitive at times so this might work in our favor however we both are aware of what we are in store for.  I am sooo tired of living with this and I am disgusted that I have let this get me like it has.  Never in my wildest dreams would I have figuered I would be hooked on drugs like this.  I am going to attempt to mow the back yard...one foot in front of the other.

[pillguy]

I tried several times over the course of a year (more like 1 1/2 years) to stop.  The lack of any energy was always the reason I fell off the wagon.  I spent several months trying to taper, without total success but I did rachet down the amount I was taking from 10 - 12  10/325s to about 3 - 4  7.5/500s.  I finally jumped back on the wagon and am 22 days clean now.  So...  If I were you (and that is a BIG IF, all of us are different) I would use the husband's script to taper.  Buy what you need to get by until you can fill the husband's script.  That money is not going to make or break you.  It's the on-going cost of using this stuff every day that is going to kill your family's finances.  It also gives you a built in obligation...  "I've spent this money to taper off these pills, now I have to stay the course or that money has been wasted."  Gives you an added incentive.    Google hydro/Lortab/Norco taper schedule to get an idea what others are doing.  Have your husband control the supply and dispense them to you.  You have to agree and committ to not brow-beat or otherwise torment your husband into breaking the agreed upon scheduled taper!  Try to get down to 2 - 3 pills/day.  Decide on a jump-off day.  As you already know, you are going to have several days where you feel like crap, even if you taper.  Tapering just reduces the WDs, it doesn't eliminate them.  I would not use the patch if I had any choice at all.  I had a script for Tramadol for 6 months.  Weird drug.  An SSRI/non narcotic opiate is probably a fair description.  I've read nothing but horror stories of people trying to get off of this drug.  Many say it's worse to get off of than Norco.  Also, I would stay away from the oxys.  Oxycontin is time-released oxycodone or percocet(dan).  The drug is more addictive than hydrocodone (Norco) and breaking the tablets may defeat the time release mechanism, giving you a higher dose than you expect.


You have several HUGH advantages going for you, First, your husband/family.  They sound supportive.  They can be a motivation for you at those times you think you just can't take it anymore.  I couldn't do it for myself.  I did it for my wife, who has stood by me through all the crap.  Second,  you have xanax for sleeping, the holy grail for me.  Being totally exhausted and then staring at the ceiling all night is enough to make you go buggy!  The xanax is a benzodiazepine, essentially a sedative.  Works great for putting you to sleep while in WDs but be very careful with this drug.  I would never recommend this drug to anyone except it has the potential to help with that first week of WDs.  Read about the side effects of long term usage, the addition potential, and the withdrawal profile (that is how bad and for how long) and you won't want to use it for any longer than you have to.  The Thomas recipe can be helpful but its like an asprin for a migraine.  The immodium is very helpful as the opiates not only effect your brain but your digestive system.  I tried the amino acid suppliments and I think they helped.  Exercise is probably the best thing you can do for yourself, and the hardest thing possible to do.  Good luck with that one!!  And finally, you sound like you really do what to quit.  That's the most important thing for getting started.  The most important thing to remember to stay off these is that if you start using again, you WILL become addicted again.  I told myself so many times that I could control it, and I ended up going through WDs several times.  I wish you the best.  I wished there was a way to describe to you just how good it feels to not be dependent.  It's one of the best feelings I've had in my entire life.  Email me if you have any questions.

Larry

[laurel453]

refusing has given very good advice to u so i  just wanted to wish u luck too and ... Welcome to the forum :)

[refusingbondage]

Hello and welcome!  First -congrats on wanting your freedom from addiction.

I didnt even know they made a tramadol patch.  Here is what I do know. Tramadol is addictive itself.  It can also be dangerous.  Trams contain not only a narcotic but a type of antidepressant.  They can cause seizures using them as well as stopping them.  I would NOT mess around with them.  Why take the chance.

Seems like you have plent to get through.. Muscle Relaxers, Xanax (be careful with the xanax too -- can also be addicting), and the vitamins from the Thomas recipe.  These should be helpful.   You said you managed to put one foot in front of the other and just truck through it this morning.  This is exactly what you have to do for the next 3-5 days.  You will be surprised how much you can manage to do (when you have to) even as sick as you are.. Our bodies are amazing like that.  To me, cold turkey though very hard is always the best way... rip the band aid off quick, or slowly.. Im a rip it off quick kind of girl.. tapering with tramadol is not a good idea either way.

I know you can do this.  And I understrand not wanting your kids to see this, but you can always claim yhou have the worst flu ever and try take it easy.  If you got deathly sick from something legit, you would have to find a way to take it easy. The best gift you can give your family and kids is a sober and drug free mom.  And in a week or so you will be feeling much better. .  Energy will return but first yo uhave to get through detox and start living healthy.  

Take lots of hot baths and showers.. They are a lifesaver.   I wish you nothing but the best and you should know you are NOT alone.  Many many many of us have been through this, myself included.  You can do it, we are proof.  Just be strong.  This is a lot mental so go into it determined and dont let it beat you.  Good luck and God bless.